Henry Dmochowski Saunders

Henry Dmochowski took the surname “Saunders” after moving to the United States from Lithuania. Educated in Vilna (then Russian Poland), he fled to France after the unsuccessful Revolution of 1830. He lived in London briefly before moving to Philadelphia, where he became well known for his sculptures and miniatures. In 1857 he came to Washington to create busts of Thaddeus Kosciusko and Casimir Pulaski for the U.S. Capitol. These men were two Polish soldiers who sided with the colonists in the Revolutionary War. Ironically, while Saunders was visiting his native country, he was killed by Russian troops who were fighting against Polish revolutionaries near the end of the uprising of 1863.